ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions' pursuit of NFL infamy, by virtue of their potential 0-16 record, did not just happen. Losing all 16 games in a season cannot be attributed to a bad call, a bad break or a bad bounce.
Instead, it is the result of being bad, period.
Draft picks are the backbone of all NFL teams. The perennial playoff teams do it well, the mediocre teams do it average and the bad teams? They do it like the Lions.
There are a lot of factors that dictate whether a team will be successful. While issues such as coaching and schemes have their impact, nothing is more important than being strong in the draft.
So here is a list of the Lions' 16 worst draft-day decisions in recent years, beginning with perhaps one of the most short-sighted: Drafting cornerback Terry Fair with the 20th overall pick 1998 while receiver Randy Moss still was on the board (and taken 21st by the Minnesota Vikings).
The list is capped by the decision two years ago to take Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton in the second round.
While Stanton has been mostly injured during his short career, the error in judgment with this pick was not in who they took, but who they passed up. The Lions already had quarterbacks Jon Kitna and Dan Orlovsky on the roster but were desperate for linebacking help.
What did the Lions do? They traded out of their original 34th position (where the Buffalo Bills took Paul Posluszny) and moved down to 43rd to take Stanton.
In doing so, Detroit passed up two excellent young linebackers -- Lamar Woodley,who was drafted 46th by the Pittsburgh Steelers, and David Harris, who was drafted 47th by the New York Jets.
